Beginning as a portrait painter to evolving a unique painting style based on Bengali folk tradition, we take a look at Jamini Roy's lasting influence on the occasion of his 130th birth anniversary.

With Google Doodle (arguably the internet’s most topical form of commemoration) paying tribute to the iconic Jamini Roy on his 130th birth anniversary on April 11, social media exploded into a retrospective of the late artist’s legacy. His work has earned him a Padma Bhushan, and worldwide recognition as one of India’s pioneering modernists.

On April 24, which also happens to mark Jamini Roy’s 45th death anniversary, art gallery DAG Modern will host an auction that will include two of Roy’s most iconic works—“Cow with Calf” and “Krishna with Playmates”—alongside works by Amrita Sher-Gil, MF Hussain, VS Gaitonde, and Abanindranath Tagore, among others. We ask Kishore Singh of DAG Modern about what makes Roy’s work resonate with audiences across generations. “It’s about the simplicity. Here is a man who, with just two or three brush strokes, can create this beautiful woman sitting with her hand on her knee, gazing out from under her sari. The absolute simplicity of a few brush strokes—that is the mark of a genius,” affirms Kishore.

Jamini Roy rejected his formal training in the realist style of European and British art in favour of the folk art of his native Bengal. His palette was a reflection of the materials favoured by the rural artisans, and his subjects ranged from Indian mythology to the everyday lives of the Indian people. He was essentially “giving India back to India”, in the words of Kishore.

What makes Roy’s work so ground-breaking for its time—and so resonant even today—is that it turned its gaze inward in a manner that was at once culturally familiar and entirely unique. Roy wanted to make art widely accessible the local audience. His dream was that every household should own an original piece of art, and he accommodated his own technique to enable accessibility.

While the nature of artistic appreciation may have changed over time, Roy’s work has succeeded in giving India back a certain sense of its own folk heritage, one that has lived long beyond his time, and that continues to inspire generations after him. “If the criteria of art is longevity,” says Kishore, “he passes it by far.”